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Thursday, December 13, 2018

You’ve heard it talked about, you’ve heard it screeched about; you may embrace it, or you may denigrate it.

It’s fraught with controversy (what great thing in life is not?) from those who say it’s bogus to those who put it on a pedestal and act like it holds all the secrets of the universe. (Little hint, people: very few things hold all the secrets to the universe. Very. Few. And this isn’t one of them.)

I’ve posted before about what it is and some of the positives and negatives of it, and you can click here for those posts if you're curious.

I loathe systems and labels and boxes, personally. So why do I 'patronize' and endorse a ‘system’ that has ‘only’ sixteen types? Why do I grin in glee when someone confirms their type, especially if I analyzed their type correctly? Why do I find it relaxing or fun to make lists like ‘if MBTI was mythical creatures they would be….’?

Why do I personally love the MBTI and spend a fair amount of time reading/thinking about it?

Because MBTI is less a ‘box system’ than it is a language. One that makes it easy for people to understand other people and behavioral psychology.

I love psychology. I love the science of how brains work and how people think. So do many other people.

What I don’t love is how much of even practical psychology (as in psychology principles that are applicable to everyday life) is couched in terms that most people can’t understand without a Ph.D*. What’s the point of figuring out how people think if you can’t explain it to others? Or if you can't avail yourself of what knowledge others have compiled? When you sit for fifteen minutes hunting all over the internet to figure out what in the name of common English a specific term means? When you have to have an elite dictionary on standby to read any psychology paper?

What is the point of learning more about people and how they think if
that knowledge is then restricted to the scientists and professionals?
When you have to (basically) have a degree to explain a term or a
concept, you can’t disseminate that knowledge to a wide variety of
people. Knowledge can’t spread beyond the elite.

And really, who needs to know more about people than those other people who live with them and interact with them in real life on a day-to-day basis?

*I’m not knocking psychology, clinical psychologists, the science, those who train thousands of hours in it, or those who practice it. Just pointing out how hard it is for most people to understand the science on a practical level.

MBTI, when you break it down into practical terms, makes it easier for people to understand how other people think and feel. Why Person A reacts to X news by crying but Person B reacts to the same news by leaping into action and making plans for how to solve the problem and Person C already has backup plans in place because they guessed X would go wrong. (And Person D freaks out and looks for an escape route.)

It’s the ‘oh, NOW I get it!’ light in someone’s eyes or their tone of voice after they hear/see that the reason they ‘usually react that way’ is not because they’re a flake, it’s because it’s a default emotional reaction and it’s okay as long as they don’t allow it to become a bad habit and as long as they then go beyond it to still deal with the situation.

It’s the realization that they don’t have to have a purely negative relationship with another person because now they understand how and why that person thinks and feels the way they do and knowing means they can now ‘work with it’.

It's the willingness and eagerness in their voice when they realize
that their default needs to be overcome, needs to be worked with to make
them a better person, more balanced––an eagerness that was formerly
stubbornness because they couldn't understand WHY it was their default
or why it was a problem in interactions with others.

It's
the bittersweet tone in a person's voice when they face the fact that
they've allowed something that's a natural reaction for them to become
an excuse for immature behavior, but now that they've faced it, they can
do something about it.

It's the shine in their eyes
when they finally understand that a certain behavior of theirs isn't BAD
just because other people don't understand it, it's just too different
from most people or from modern perception that said people have to work much harder to'understand it.

MBTI makes it easy to explain and understand that yes, ENFPs are ‘all over the place’ with the way they think, and a) that’s not inherently bad, b) that’s an advantage sometimes, c) yes, while that is their default, they do need to accept that if they want to mature as a person and move forward in life, they do sometimes need to set specific goals, make some lists, and work on tying their brains down to a few things.

It makes it easier to communicate that yes, most ISFPs are sensitive people who don’t want to believe ill of anyone and loathe conflict, but sometimes they need to stop being so nice/timid/sweet and step up to the plate to stop a cycle of bad behavior—theirs or someone else’s.

It simplifies explaining that yes, you know what, a lot of INTJs seem like standoffish jerks, but frequently they don’t realize they’re coming across that way because what they are doing is trying to figure you out and how you fit into their world and how they need to approach you when they try to connect.

It’s like a code. One which you don’t need a degree to understand or use, just common sense and an open mind (and learning it from the right sources).

NOW.
Yes, it's true that MBTI is easy once you know what it's
talking about (and I don't mean Fe and Fi and whatnot...feefifofum, I smell the blood...).
It's also true
that it's easily misunderstood. Like any language, sometimes you have
to try a few different learning styles before it clicks and you really
understand how it works.**

People are hard to understand.
People are confusing.
But people are also fascinating and intriguing and amazing.
(Most of them; I mean, let’s be brutally honest here: some are just…jerks, and no amount of explanation or understanding can make that better.)

So I love the MBTI classifications because every little thing that helps us understand people makes the world a better place, since the instant you understand yourself and those around you even just a
little, the more equipped you are to being able to choose
behavior and actions that make a better world.

That's why I personally love it.

**Stay tuned for Part 2: Myers Briggs and
Misunderstandings

What are your thoughts on the Myers Briggs 'system'? Do you know your Myers-Briggs type?

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series, with its assassin protagonist, is one of the most popular YA literature series of the last decade. I've seen it in libraries, bookstores, EVERYWHERE on social media, and had it recommended to me by numerous people. In the midst of the acclaim, I've also heard some strong dislike for the series.

So of course I had to test it out for myself and thus picked it up one recent weekend. For fun, I kept a running log of my reactions as I read the first seven chapters. For all of you who recommended it to me as well as those of you who assured me that I'd hate it...here you go.

Disclaimer:This is my personal opinion (aside from a few editorial notes). This is not an attack on anyone who is a fan of these books, nor is it a criticism of them or their choice of reading material or their opinions. It is also not an open invitation for a defensive war of these books. Furthermore, it is not a criticism of Ms. Maas herself, her editors, publishers, or fans. If you can think of anything else I've missed, take it outside.It is an opinion-slash-critique of the book itself (story and writing) from my perspective.

1

trained from birth to protect and kill = Really? Because that's not cliché at all. *eye roll* Though to be fair, I think Maas was near the front of the pack of those who have now made it cliché.

End of the first chapter and my current impression is: pretty standard YA fare that could benefit from a line edit.

2

How long are they going to pound into our heads that she’s an assassin?
Dear grief. We get it already. Blah blah blah, she’s been trained to kill. She’s arrogant. We get that too.
We don’t need it hammered into our heads.

Princes are not supposed to be handsome! They’re sniveling, stupid, repulsive creatures! This one . . . this . . . How unfair of him to be royal and beautiful. = I’m sure this is supposed to be funny. Instead it comes across as overblown and melodramatic.
Although...it is very teenage, and since that's what she is...score one for them.

“There’s a ‘best part’?” the Crown Prince said, face caught between a wince and a smile. = This is actually a good line.

Coming within strangling distance of the Crown Prince of Adarlan, son of the man who sentenced her to a slow, miserable death, her self-control balanced on a fragile edge—dancing along a cliff. = This sentence should have ended with the word 'edge'. It did not need the ‘dancing along a cliff’ addition.

Less is more, Ms. Maas and editors. Less is more. Adding ‘dancing along a cliff’, especially after an em dash and not a comma, detracts from the impact of the sentence and confusticates the point being made.
Confusticates is too a word, textedit, good grief. What language are you set to.

3

After all, you aren’t Adarlan’s Assassin for nothing. = *groooans*
Sounds to me like this little brat deserved everything she got in those mines. Though I wouldn’t wish such treatment on almost anyone.

4

Of course, he didn’t mention how different she looked now that she was clean. = why would he? It's not his job to go around complimenting her or making comments on how different she looks from one phase to the next. What an unnecessary, egotistical sentence.

5

When are we going to quit with the phrases about being people trained to kill without hesitation, trained to protect which involves being able to kill, everything's about killing. Is anyone in here NOT trained to kill, other than her fellow slaves?
I mean, there's making it clear that this is an assassin story and then there's, wait for it...OVERKILL.
Ah, yes. I amuse myself endlessly.

6

He found her beautiful, = can we please stop saying in fiction that people ‘found others beautiful'?
"Eureka!"
Yeah, see? The whole Eureka thing really doesn't work as well unless it's something equally as entertaining as Diogenes buck naked in the streets of Athens screaming off his head about something no one has any idea of.
I wonder if he was ever forced to explain himself for that stunt.

7

“Yes,” he said, “you’d vanish with three arrows buried in your spine.” = THANK you. It’s nice to know that someone around here is currently capable of giving this balloon-headed wisp of a popinjay a setdown.

The Crown Prince of Adarlan stared at his father unblinkingly, waiting for him to speak. = He may have actually done this and be good at it, but it reminds me that every time I see this phrase in a story, I want to ask the author if they’ve tried staring unblinkingly—not the childhood game but adult, focused, serious—and if they could do it or not.
It's not as easy as the words make it sound, believe you me.

His father rose from his throne and pointed at the map painted on the far wall of his council chamber. “I am the conqueror of this continent, and soon to be ruler of all Erilea. You will not question me.” = WHY must all fathers/kings in stories say ‘you will not question me’.
Sidenote, the default I usually hear in my head when I see this used is Anthony Head in his role of Uther Pendragon in BBC's Merlin. Which was actually a believable instance of its use.
Point is.
Let's stop repeating the same old same old. Why couldn't he say, "Feel free to question me all you like, if you fancy a night without supper." Or if he can't manage snark, why couldn't he say, "Not another word, brat..."??

End of the seventh chapter already? I must admit I'm not impressed yet.

And there you have it. My snarky but honest thoughts as I read the first seven chapters of Throne of Glass. Have you read it? Can you tell me why you like it without starting a war? (I prefer to wait to go into a war until I have more information.)

Saturday, November 10, 2018

My writing buddies and anyone who has done NaNo 'with' me or who knows much about me will be able to tell you that I always pick my NaNo project well in advance (read: a month beforetime a.k.a. at the beginning of October) because I need the time to plot it out before I begin.

At the beginning of October 2018, I wasn't at all sure what I wanted to do for NaNo. Then one night, an idea came, I fleshed it out over the weekend, and by the middle of the next week had pretty much decided it was going to be my NaNo. This was par for the course for me. I talked it over with my MuseTwin and brainstorm partner, I threw the idea at Kate, I did a lot of plotting, I described it to a few other people. The plotting went great, I had enough to go on to start the novel, which I was describing as 'a modern Korean Macbeth with dragons'. I loved the idea, I was excited about it.

And then life decided that it favored a rather brutal approach to the last week and a half of the month.

And I wasn't sure that was the novel I needed to be doing right then. I loved the idea, but the more I thought about it, it wasn't quite the right novel for my frame of mind.

What to do?

Fortunately, there was another book I'd mostly plotted and which was waiting, even to having written out several snippets. I already knew and loved the characters and the plot. I adored the world. I'd spent a lot of hours thinking about this novel, playing with collages and aesthetics, figuring out the pieces of this story.

So, I switched novels.

And I'm very glad I did. The other one waits still, ready for its moment in the spotlight, but this one is the one I need to be writing right now.

The totally sweet and fun and terrific Christine at Musings of an Elf has created a tag for us to showcase our NaNo novels. I had the answers all written out with the novel I was going to do, so belatedly, here are my answers to the tag with the novel I am doing: The Rowan Cipher, book 1 in the Pendragons and Pimpernels series.

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?
King Arthur.
Basically.
I've loved the tales of Arthurian Legend since I was a child of seven or eight. I fell in love with Arthur, with Lancelot too, with Gawain, with the ever-epic Merlin, with Percival, I wanted to be the Lady of the Lake or the best friend of Guenivere (c'mon, girl, let me give you a few tips about handling that many men at a time), wanted to smack a bunch of them and tell them to get their heads out of inconvenient places and THINK a little more, etc.

Arthurian Legend has sparked so many stories for me.

And between re-watching episodes of Merlin with my sister and watching old episodes of Mission Impossible, I had the nucleus of this series come together in my head. A private security company, missions of high importance, personnel inspired by Arthurian characters.
I liked it. Mirriam liked it. Kate liked it.
But something was still missing.
Then one day it hit me, and I texted Mirriam, "IT NEEDS FAE. MODERN FAE."
And she texted right back, "OMGOSH, IT DOES."

Voila.

2. Share a blurb!
Hah. Right. Well, I don’t have one yet.
I usually have one, but October was hectic and I didn't get one written. The best I have for a tagline currently is:

Modern Arthurian-style Mission Impossible encounters Celtic Fae, English Mythology, and a Dan-Brown-like cult.

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects about the setting?
The United Kingdom, 2018.

Favorite aspects...I'd love to visit England for a while, so getting to set a story there is great.

And autumn. I love that it's happening in the autumn.

4. Tell us about your protagonist.
There are, as usual, multiple protagonists but two in particular are main:

“What, the British Army doesn’t teach its captains to arrive early to important events?” a feminine voice drawled behind him.
“Hello, Morgan.” He continued his slow turn, seeking out every corner of the room and filing away the locations of exits and entrances, as well as anything notable about the people gathering.
“Arthur.” Her sharp features relaxed into a smile when their eyes met. “Does there happen to be a reason the head of London’s newest private security company is almost late to his aunt’s funeral? Especially since I happen to know that he’s supposed to be on holiday?”
At the signal in her eyes, he fell into step with her, casually angling their path through the room to a side door.
“Paperwork,” he replied laconically.
She didn’t call him out for the lie. “And how is training your supposedly illustrious team going, oh glorious leader? Really, I don’t know how you can ever accuse me of arrogance after this stunt. You’ve thrown any future advantage away in one swoop. The Pendragons? That’s honestly what you’re calling your team?”
He raised both eyebrows tauntingly. “And what else should I have called them, Madam-I’m-dressing-as-Morgan-le-Fey-and-you-have-to-be-Arthur? Besides, you set the bar by naming your super-investigators after an obscure but brilliant literary hero. What else would have beaten the bloody Pimpernels?”
Morgan’s eyes widened, her lips opening in a soundless gasp. “Nowhere in my office is there the word ‘bloody’. Would I dare tempt fate that boldly?”
“No, you’ll just do it subtly,” he muttered.

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?
Ohhhhhh boy. Spoilers, sweetie.

6. What excites you the most about this novel?
Writing it.

7. Is this going to be a series? Standalone? Something else?
Series. It was always going to be a series. The goal is to keep the books themselves shorter than what I usually write (no longer than 80-85K hopefully) but the series...there are so many books I could write. Extra novels. Spin-off novellas. Short stories.
Who knows how many I'll actually get to, but there is a lot of potential here.

8. Are you plotting? Pantsing? Plansting?
Plotting.
Can’t live without it. This book has less forethought plotting than most of mine, but there's been a lot of shower plotting and then hurrying to scribble down frameworks of chapters to write later.

9. Name a few things that makes this story unique.
I
am rubbish at answering this question. My standard answer always wants
to be ‘I’m the person writing it? Everyone brings a unique take to writing?’
I think the chance to try and turn some fae tropes on their sides and change it up a bit. Arthur and the knights as private security. Going back to the roots of Morgan le Fey where she was mostly a good, helpful character.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Let me begin by saying I’m not calling anyone out in particular. This is not a rant nor a targeted exposé, simply an honest, open FYI from one person in the writing industry to others.

As an aspiring author who’s been doing research into agents and publishers, I’ve read scores of publishing websites over the last several months. One thing I've noticed a lot is the lack of clear information about what publishers accept for submissions.

I’d like to bring a few points about this to the attention of publishers in the hopes of making the nerve-wracking process a little easier on both authors and publishers and saving everyone some time all around.

Submissions pages

If you want writers submitting to you, particularly if you want to be pulling in the kinds of books you are looking to publish, you need to give them more specifics about what you are or not seeking in an author's work.

If you prefer not to publish books with overt Christian messages, please say so on the website.
If you prefer books that would receive a PG-13 rating instead of a PG rating, state that.
If you want to publish YA and not MG fiction, but all you say on your website is that you ‘like unique, fun fantasy’ then you’re going to have authors sending you manuscripts you can’t use. This wastes the time of the author and your acquisitions editor.

Consider. It takes between five and ten minutes to open a pitching email and read a proposal. Then it takes between five and twenty minutes to reply to the author either rejecting them right away or asking for their manuscript. Then, once you’ve read the manuscript and realized it’s not what you’re looking for, it’s taken you between two and six months, if you’re operating at industry standard.

Whereas if you had just put a line on your website that said ‘we prefer books closer to the PG-13 or R range than a PG range’, or had said ‘we prefer to publish only romance books or books where the primary plot is mystery, no matter what other elements your story contains’, the author can read that and immediately know that you’re not a good fit for their fantasy romance-with-a-hint-of-mystery book.

Depending on how long your Submissions page is, it will take the average author between three and ten minutes to read it. Another five or so to re-read the list of submission criteria. Another five to triple check it when deciding whether to submit to you or not.

Thirteen to twenty minutes overall that the author spends, which equals the publisher not needing to spend any time at all on a book that won’t fit them, thus leaving their time open for those who do fit enough of the criteria to give your company or agency a shot.

If you make sure that what you're looking for is crystal clear on your website, preferably with a concise list of 'yes, we want this kind of thing' and 'no, we don't want this kind of thing', you're not only making it easy on authors and yourselves, you're impressing anyone who reads the site with your professionalism and clear communication. They'll remember that, and, even if they can't submit to you themselves, they're more likely to recommend you to others.

FAQ pages

‘Well, if we were to list every jot and tittle of what we are or are not looking for, the submissions page would be too long. That’s why we tell people to look at our past catalogue.’

That’s a valid point and all very well and good… except for two things.

a) Taking the last point first, if you don’t have much of a back catalogue yet, authors can't go to that to judge. Also, if you expect authors to actually read some of your back catalogue to see how much of it is like theirs, you're asking most authors to put too much time into trying out for your press when they can find another that has similar criteria but laid out concisely enough between submissions and FAQ pages that they don't have to spend ten+ hours reading enough of your back catalogue to try to figure out if their fiction fits your press.

b) And this is the more relevant point, this is what FAQ pages are for. For the details, the questions and answers too long or numerous to make it onto the submissions pages.

Recently, I emailed a girl who is beginning her own publishing company to ask her several questions about what specifically she was looking to publish. She replied with a lengthy, informative email, and then added that she was probably going to put the answers up into an FAQ page on the website for others with the same questions.

THAT is professional. That is the easy, smart, sensible way to handle inquiries regarding particulars about your goals.

No, you probably won’t have the time or space to list every single inquiry and answer on your FAQ page. But the more common inquires and/or inquiries from one person that it seems like others might also have should be listed on a FAQ page.

If the author still isn’t sure if their book is a good fit for you after having read the submissions page, they can go to the FAQ and sort through the information there.

It isn’t a foolproof plan to eliminate anything you won’t be interested in. That is why you have acquisitions editors. But this can save authors and publishers/acquisitions editors a lot of time and trouble.

"But", you ask, "what if we don’t have the time or manpower to write detailed submissions or FAQ pages or keep them updated?"

Then, with all due courtesy, what are you doing in the publishing world? Please step aside and make way for the professionals who will make the time to smooth the process out as much as is sensibly and reasonably possible.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Recently, the trailer for a new Robin Hood retelling was released. The movie will be directed by Otto Bathurst and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson. If you haven’t seen it, go check it out. It’s chock-full of dramatic, hilarious action and adventure.

For the last week, I’ve seen and heard a lot of hate—or at the very least, mild disapproval—for this trailer and upcoming movie. The main objection from people seems to rest on one fact.

It’s not historically accurate.

Ironically, the favorite Robin Hood retelling for a lot of people is the
anthropomorphic Disney Robin Hood, and I haven’t heard many people
complaining about the unrealism of THAT one. Its whimsically memorable
representations of King John as a sniveling brat, Robin as a bold fox,
and Little John as a lovable bear have enthralled hundreds of thousands since its release.

So, to be honest, I’m not really sure why this new Robin Hood is getting so much hate.

This new spate of trailer-bashing reminds me of the negative reaction the BBC’s 2006 Robin Hood show received from a lot of people—mostly, I believe, historical purists or historicity snobs.

(Side note: can we bring back the BBC's totally fun medieval-style re-tellings of legends from that decade?)

This cracks me up, for two reasons.

Argue all you want to and cite as much evidence as you like for Robin Hood being a historical figure. I will heartily endorse anything that supports that.
But.
There’s a reason it’s called a LEGEND.

Currently, (correct me if I’m wrong) I don’t think it can be incontrovertibly proven that Robin Hood was a historical person. And even if it can, you’ll never find historical documents describing the band we all know so well from the legends: towering, faithful Little John, minstrel Alan-a-Dale, beautiful and feisty Maid Marian, brash Will Scarlett, loyal Much the Miller’s son.

Which begs the question... does historical accuracy matter every time a legend is retold? Every time Robin Hood or King Arthur is re-adapted for the page or the screen, should writers make an effort to stick to historical accuracy?

I don't personally think so, no.

I think that the most important thing to remember in retelling a legend or fairy tale is that the spirit of the story matters more than the 'letter'—any supposed historical basis or fact. The theme of the story is what looms larger than life and keeps successive generations coming back for more or giving the story their own interpretations to reflect the changing times while preserving the heart of the story.

Sure, there are some things you probably shouldn't mess with too much—like setting a King Arthur 'resurrection' story in America, since he’s essentially a British hero and the legendary prophecy says he’ll rise ‘when Britain’s need is greatest’ and newsflash: America isn't part of Britain anymore, see: Revolutionary War—but in general, the field for retelling a legend is as wide open as is that for retelling a fairy tale.

The spirit of a story is the core theme underlying it, not the strict facts that comprise it. With Robin Hood, this is a band of rebels fighting the 'establishment' or government, waging a sort of guerrilla war on the greedy oppressors of the common people. It’s the idea that good still exists and that there will always be found those who are willing to fight for it and fight for a better way of life. It also contains the reminder that even in the darkest times, humor can still be found: Robin Hood tales abound in pranks being played on powerful people.

The theme underlying Arthurian legends overlaps this in the realm of hope, illustrating that when a group of people cares deeply about something and are determined, they can not only drive oppressors out, but also create a wonderful society in its place. (Okay, so, it at least TRIES, though we all know how that turned out.) It follows with a warning theme: beware greed, ambition, and betrayal because they can tear even the best things apart from the inside out.

And semi-sidetracking into classics, the Three Musketeers is all about brotherhood and loyalty above all else. They’re maybe not always the most morally admirable guys, but the point of the story is that awesome things happen—including saving the country—when you are incredibly, almost fanatically, devoted to friendship.

The Scarlet Pimpernel showcases the idea that even if something is not your trouble or your problem, you can still help, and there’s little that a loyal band of people can’t do.

(Yes, it has not escaped my notice how similar the themes are in these stories. There’s a reason they’re classics or classic legends, people.)

Incidentally, when retellings or adaptations of these stories have not been restricted to historical accuracy or the exact structure of the original tale, they've tended to pull in a lot of new fans, broadening the exposure to the original stories.

For example:
Robin Hood = BBC’s 2006 show + the Disney movie
King Arthur = BBC’s Merlin + the musical Camelot
The Three Musketeers = the imaginative, steampunkish, 2011 version + the new TV show
The Scarlet Pimpernel = the 1982 movie, which was mostly correct historically, but which jumbled together details from three different books in the series.
Pride and Prejudice = dislike zombies all you want to, but as far as story structure is concerned, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did a great job of maintaining the spirit of Austen's classic while giving it a new spin.

I'm not bashing all historical representations of the legends. I have thoroughly enjoyed some historical or pseudo-historical adaptations of Robin Hood and King Arthur. I'm also personally writing at least one historical fantasy Arthurian retelling.

I simply suggest that historicity all the time is unnecessary, else we'd never have any new imaginings of the tale. I think staying true to the underlying theme in a legend, classic, or fairy tale is more important than strict historical accuracy.

I’m planning to give the new Robin Hood a chance. It might be great. It might stink. But I’ll wait to bash it until after it’s had a fair trial.

(+ if I wasn’t already planning to give it a chance, my best friend would make my life miserable. So, y'know, there’s THAT.)

Saturday, April 28, 2018

No, I haven't forgotten about the rest of the reverse-harem-in-my-books posts I promised. Those are coming.

In the meantime, have a snippets post, because a new story spilled out the past couple of weeks and it's been forever since I did a snippets post.

This story is so new that it doesn't have an official title yet. It exists under the working title Pendragons and Pimpernels. I can't tell you much about it yet, other than to say....

soldiers

spies

medical experiments

magic

kidnapping

twins

sanctity of life

and

oh yes

Arthurian Legend

What do you mean AGAIN?
It's not like I actually have a fascination with Arthurian Legend.

“And how is training your illustrious team going, O glorious leader? Really, my dear boy, I’m not sure how you can ever accuse me of arrogance after this stunt. You’ve thrown any future advantage away in one swoop. The Pendragons? Really? That’s what you’re calling your team?”

He raised both eyebrows tauntingly. “And what else should I have called them? You set the bar by naming your team of super spies after an obscure but brilliant literary hero. What else would have beaten the Bloody Pimpernels?”

Morgan’s eyes widened, and her lips opened in a gasp. “I did no such thing, Arthur Griffin. What kind of lady would I be to call a team bloody anything?”

“At least in public,” he muttered.

*******

It was something of a tradition now; whenever the cousins were all heading off together, their mothers appeared unable to send them off without a full complement of admonishment. For some reason, these were usually directed to Arthur.

As if I could stop them from getting into trouble. He pasted on a patient face while pulling a jacket up over his shoulders.

“Don’t you let my brats stay up all night drinking!”

“Yes, Aunt Anna.”

“Don’t let Elgan break anything.”

“Yes, Aunt Elaine.”

“If you all have massive hangovers in the morning, don’t come whinging to us to help them!”

“We won’t, Aunt Georgia.”

“Keep the blackmail to a minimum. I don’t want to be bailing Niall out of whatever stupid thing he did while drunk that you lummoxes won’t delete from your phones.”

“Yes, Aunt Beverly.”

“Don’t let Justin blow anything up!” That was three voices: Uncle Ambrose Merlin, his wife, Brenda, and his sister, Nerys.

“I won’t.”

“And no tough girl contests, Morgan!” Imogene called.

“I’ll make sure she’s fine, Mum.” Arthur closed the front door firmly but waited to sigh in relief until the car door was closed behind him.

From the driver’s seat, Morgan smirked at him. “Sucks to be the golden child, doesn’t it?”

“I’ll give you golden child,” he muttered, leaning over as if to push her out and take her place in the driver’s seat. She smacked him, laughed, and gunned the engine.

*******

“Do we have to stay all through dinner?” one of the younger men was asking.

“It’s not like we’d really be missed if we skipped off to the pub for a few pints,” the person next to him said persuasively.

Arthur shook his head.

Before he could speak, Spencer’s deep voice cut in, “Unbelievable. A funeral, and here you two are arguing about skipping off to get drunk.”

“Mum would notice, and you know it,” one of the other men retorted.

“Aw, Glen, not if you kept her distracted,” wheedled the second speaker.

“How you can persist in thinking that still works boggles my mind,” Morgan interjected. “Aunt Anna never misses anything, especially not when we wish she would.”

*******

Her hand dropped inside of her bag as she faced him suspiciously. Judging by the coiled tension in her arm, she wasn’t reaching for a business card.

“I’m sorry, you are?” she questioned.

He frowned. “It’s my flat. I ask the questions.”

“Your flat? Ah.” Her face cleared slightly. “You must be the mysterious Arthur. Do you know, I was beginning to wonder if you even existed at all?”

“I, what…” He blinked. Not a threat then. “How do you have a key?”

“Oh, silly of me. I work with Morgan.”

Well, that explained everything.

*******

Arthur waited, but Morgan made no move to talk about the day. “So,” he finally prompted. “What was Aunt Winnie working on?”

His sister shook her head, frowning darkly. “Whatever it was is classified. I’ve tried every clearance I have, short of calling in favors, and I can’t get anything on it other than a project name. Project Grail.”

“Grail?” Glen tapped his fingers against the bottle in his hand. “As in holy grail?”

“Is our whole sodding family Arthurian mad?” Elgan muttered.

“Watch your tongue. One of those is your captain,” Spencer growled good-naturedly.

“And I suppose his aunts and uncles and parents are less deserving of respect,” Glen retorted.

Spencer shrugged, looking as if he couldn’t care less.

*******

“What was so important that it got you out of command at this hour of the day?”

Morgan glanced up as Telyn sat down opposite her and took a sip from her cup of tea. Her friend was dressed in four shades of green and several small braids interwoven with grass-colored ribbons criss-crossed her head.

“How do they even let you in the doors looking like that?” Morgan gestured to the eclectic outfit, which somehow actually worked, instead of looking like it had been put together by a child of three.

“If decent dressing skills were a prerequisite for a doctor, none of us would have made it through our first year of medical school,” Telyn retorted dryly. “Except for you,” she added, rolling her eyes and wrinkling her nose at Morgan.

“How do you even have time to do your hair like that?”

The hand holding Telyn’s coffee briefly clenched.

“Not sleeping again?” Morgan asked softly. Her friend shrugged, all the answer she needed to know that the nightmares were back.

“Now what is this about?”

“Project Insane Myth.”

Telyn tried unsuccessfully not to giggle. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

*******

“Did Mum and Dad seem awfully eager to get us out of the way tonight?”

“More so than usual?” He considered it for a moment. His father had been closed off, though he did mention he was keeping a sharp eye on the progress of the team Arthur was training. That was normal, though, and as for being quiet, his father had just lost a sister.

Their mother now…when he thought about it, she had seemed less forthcoming than usual. He nodded to Morgan. “Mum perhaps. And Uncle Merlin.”

“Uncle Merlin what?” said another voice. Justin dropped down over the edge of the sofa next to Arthur. He snatched up a beer, twisted the cap off, and drank deeply.

“That bad?” Spencer snickered.

The other man made a garbled sound of disgust.

“Hello again to you too, Justin,” Morgan said pointedly, leaning around Arthur. “I assume Telyn is safely home.”

“That roommate of hers.” Justin shook his head and drank again. “Nothing chatters like that. Nothing. Can’t wait until she moves out.”

“It’s not like you’re ever here—or there—anyway,” Arthur pointed out and changed the subject before Justin had a chance to elaborate on his complaining. “What did Tel tell you about…you know?”

Justin sobered and set the alcohol down. “All she got was a name. Project Grail.”

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

I have a deep hunger for unique, one of a kind, not-mainstream-sounding music.

I want more edgy poetry in music.

More songs themed on aesthetics.
The sound of a summer night's owls and bats, a spring morning's fairy bells, a winter midnight stillness, an autumn afternoon's beautiful stirring restlessness.
Sunsets and sunrises. Twilight. Midnight.
The beach in the early hours of the morning.
The contained excitement of deer and elk heading up into the mountains for summer pasture.
The calculating thrill of a lion on the prowl.
The snarl of a tiger turning to protect itself.

(Can I have an entire album of both
instrumental and songs-with-lyrics themed on selkies, please?)

Old poems with updated phrasing for a fresh touch and set to indie-folk or folk-pop melodies.

Epic vocal music that truly has EPIC lyrics instead of sounding like a three-year-old wrote them.
(Epic vocal music is gorgeous, and I love it, but not when
it consists of the same one line being repeated over and over with only very
minor variations...SOMEONE HAND ME COFFEE TO WAKE ME UP.)

I want to hear good voices.
The kind that one has to describe with story phrases.

I want more world music of the likes of Heather Dale and Loreena McKennitt—turning stories into ballads with an international flair. (Happy day! Loreena's dropping a new album next month.)

More relatable indietronica and synth-pop like Owl City and CHVRCHES.

More indie-folk/folk-pop such as Of Monsters and Men.

Epic music the quality of Two Steps from Hell and Audiomachine but themed on historical events.

Stirring songs the likes of May It Be, Song of the Lonely Mountain, Into the West, and The Last Goodbye.

Music re-imagining classic stories with a contemporary flair, such as
the French rock musicals Robin des Bois, La Légende du Roi Arthur, and
Les Trois Mousquetaires.

More rock like some of Nickelback's—songs that remind you to keep going, there's something in the world worth fighting for, even if you have to claw your way to it.

More songs like Enya's poetry in music. Or like Svrcina's Battlefield.

Mythology, legend, and history made FUN, relatable, and interesting again through song.

I just want more music that is edgy without being depressing, fun without insisting I have to get drunk to experience life, and deep while still being relatable for a wide variety of people.

What about you? What would you like to see more of in music? What are some of your favorite songs? Favorite musical artists?

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

After last week's post, I looked at the list of stories in which I've written reverse harem and laughed, because one of those stories is not like all the others.

Out of the six times I've written reverse harem, I've only written the Innocent Heroine once: Belleza Rivera, heroine of Queen Beauty and the Beasts, my 2016 NaNo novel that I'm now beginning to revise for publishing.

I'm most in my comfort zone when writing powerful women types: the thinkers, manipulators, movers, and shakers. Less so when writing the more emotional and/or innocent heroines. But Queen Beauty and the Beasts, a contemporary fantasy retelling of both Beauty and the Beast and Phantom of the Opera, demanded the Innocent type, rather than the Powerful type.

Belleza wasn't just Belle/Beauty, she was also Christine. Not only that, she was up against not one, but twelve 'Beasts', one of whom was also the Phantom, all of whose curses she's sworn to break. It's her strong belief in love– a belief she firmly clings to even after seeing exactly what evil she's up against– that carries her through, as well as her hope that good will triumph over evil, that love can face down any obstacle and still win.

Because I set out to tell a story of love over lust, her being an Innocent type also gave me a large scope for symbolism.

Writing Belleza was a very interesting experience for me. I don't
normally write extrovert FMCs; they're simply not my comfort zone. I
also usually write logical, coolly rational, thinking FMCs, and Belleza was most
assuredly not those. Plus, she is Argentinian, which
means she's even more outwardly emotionally demonstrative than say, an American
heroine would have been.

But she's not stupid or inane. She's got a brain and she uses it. Also, I didn't realize it at the time, but much of her character was unconsciously influenced by irritation that many introverts dismiss how smart and level headed extroverts can be, just because they don't understand them well.

It was also somewhat of a personal challenge to myself. COULD I, in fact, write a non-Powerful type heroine without completely failing? Could I write an emotional, extroverted heroine?

I could, it turns out. And it was fun. (Stressful, because I pushed myself really hard on that book, but fun.) And I still love the story, even after it sat for a year. I'm excited to begin revising it.

My comfort zone is still Powerful-type heroines, but after writing this book, I have a new appreciation of not only the more innocent, hopeful heroines in stories, but those kinds of people in real life, too.

What about you? Do you tend to write more innocent or powerful heroines in your stories, (with or without reverse harem elements)?

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Greetings, one and all! I return from the fog shrouding my absence in mystery to once again and with delight take up this blog's pen.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about how and why I write stories with many and complicated 'love lines': romantic attractions between a single heroine and multiple male leads, also known as 'reverse harem' stories.

Essentially, my reasons for writing it so many times are:
#1 = BECAUSE IT WAS FUN.
#2 = Because it just kind of... happened that way in the story.
#3 = It was fun.
#4 = I do what I want in my writing, and the more complicated, the more fun I (usually) have.
#5 = Did I mention it's FUN?

Next week: a closer look into Queen Beauty and the Beasts and the 'innocent' reverse harem heroine.